T: And the taste follows with obvious layers of spice at the front of the palate - cinnamon, sugar, clove and a touch of drying paprika. Caramelly sweet with strong notes of ripened fruit - banana, raisins. This ale might be "outside the lines", but everything works well, nicely balanced. Surprisingly, the sweet finish doesn't linger.

M: Given the rest of the flavors, you'd expect something oily, chewy, but this is pretty light in complexion. The beer definitely has the body of a bock.

An aptly named beer that was brought back for Christmas in July. It might stray from a traditional bock style, but the beer works for what it's trying to do. Really tasty, and going down pretty quickly for a hot summer night.

Overall Impression- Seems like a very familiar holiday beer! Great amount of spice, sweet but strong, and such a great bock. The drinkability was medium and appropriate. I'm a huge fan of this brewery now!

T: Strong gingerbread dough profile carries through to the flavor. Hey, this tastes like Christmas! Some nutmeg and a little cinnamon. Some evident molasses. Light grape notes accompany date and plum. A touch of booze. Dry finish.

Had this on-tap at Beachwood BBQ. I didn't initially post my review because the beer tastes almost exactly like Christmas Saves Ernest, and thought there was a mistake. Upon further investigation, this beer is just very similar to Christmas Saves Ernest.

On to the review...

A: The beer pours a dark brown color with a finger or so of khaki colored head.

S: Smells quite spicy and perhaps even herbal. I get a lot of gingerbread type aromas such as molasses, ginger, and toffee. There's a bit of a dark fruit aspect to it and perhaps some chocolate.

T: The flavor is very similar to the nose with a big emphasis on the ginger notes. Molasses, toffee, and winter spices make up a lot of the flavor profile. Sweet, but not overly so. Really different...

M: The body is medium with a moderate level of carbonation.

D: Definitely not what I was expecting from a Bock, but I guess it is a "Christmas Bock", though that really didn't mean anything to me.